Guardian Wealth expands its Swiss footprint

Guardian Wealth Management, the Dubai-based advisory group founded by David Howell and John Hasberry more than 20 years ago in the UK, has opened a second outpost in Switzerland, this time in Basel, and named Jack Kerswell to head it up.

The company, which also goes by the name GWM Group, has had an office in Geneva for more than 10 years.

As reported, GWM announced in October that it had opened its first US office, in the Brickell district of Miami.

In a statement announcing the new Swiss office, GWM said that the expansion comes as the company is seeing a 50% increase in year-to-date revenue, compared with 2016.

GWM managing director, Gavin Pluck said that while GWM already had a “well-established presence in Southern Switzerland”, the opening of an office in Basel would provide “a strong foothold that will allow us to expand into new territories in northern Switzerland, and beyond”.

Kerswell is described by GWM as a “seasoned area manager” with more than 27 years’ experience working in the advice industry in both the UK and mainland Europe. Prior to joining GWM, he spend around seven years with the deVere Group, the last five of which were as an area manager covering Switzerland.

He is being joined in launching the GWM office in Basel by James Stratford, who also comes to GWM from deVere.

In a statement accompanying the announcement of the new office, Kerswell said he would be bringing his own experience as an expat for the past seven years to his new role. “I’m all too familiar with the hurdles international workers have to overcome,” he added.

Indeed, he noted, in the brief time the office has been operating, this empathy and understanding, combined with the support of GWM’s compliance, marketing, IT and client services operations, has resulted in “significant early progress” having already been made.

In addition to its Dubai headquarters and the Miami, Geneva and Basel offices, GWM has offices in Abu Dhabi in the UAE, and Doncaster and London in the UK.